Eric Hobsbawm - Age Of Revolution 1789 -1848

THE AGE OF REVOLUTIONeminently Anglo-Saxon subject; but here the Industrial Revolution putthem into unquestioned first place. The economist of the 1780s wouldread Adam Smith, but also—and perhaps more profitably—the Frenchphysiocrats and national income accountants, Quesnay, Turgot,Dupont de Nemours, Lavoisier, and perhaps an Italian or two. TheFrench produced more original inventions, such as the Jacquardloom (1804)—a more complex piece of apparatus than any devised inBritain—and better ships. The Germans possessed institutions of technicaltraining like the Prussian Bergakademie which had no parallel inBritain, and the French Revolution created that unique andimpressive body, the Ecole Poly technique. English education was a jokein poor taste, though its deficiencies were somewhat offset by the dourvillage schools and the austere, turbulent, democratic universities ofCalvinist Scotland which sent a stream of brilliant, hard-working,career-seeking and rationalist young men into the south country:James Watt, Thomas Telford, Loudon McAdam, James Mill. Oxfordand Cambridge, the only two English universities, were intellectuallynull, as were the somnolent public or grammar schools, with theexception of the Academies founded by the Dissenters who were excludedfrom the (Anglican) educational system. Even such aristocraticfamilies as wished their sons to be educated, relied on tutors or Scottishuniversities. There was no system of primary education whatever beforethe Quaker Lancaster (and after him his Anglican rivals) establisheda sort of voluntary mass-production of elementary literacy in the earlynineteenth century, incidentally saddling English education foreverafter with sectarian disputes. Social fears discouraged the education ofthe poor.Fortunately few intellectual refinements were necessary to make theIndustrial Revolution.* Its technical inventions were exceedinglymodest, and in no way beyond the scope of intelligent artisans experimentingin their workshops, or of the constructive capacities ofcarpenters, millwrights and locksmiths: the flying shuttle, the spinningjenny, the mule. Even its scientifically most sophisticated machine,James Watt's rotary steam-engine (1784), required no more physicsthan had been available for the best part of a century—the proper* 'On the one hand it is gratifying to see that the English derive a rich treasure for theirpolitical life, from the study of the ancient authors, however pedantically this might beconducted; so much so that parliamentary orators not infrequently cited the ancients to goodpurpose, a practice which was favourably received by, and not without effect upon, theirAssembly. On the other hand it cannot but amaze us that a country in which the manufacturingtendencies are predominant, and hence the need to familiarize the people with thesciences and arts which advance these pursuits is evident, the absence of these subjects in thecurriculum of youthful education is hardly noticed. It is equally astonishing how much isnevertheless achieved by men lacking any formal education for their professions.' W.Wachsmuth, Europatischc SittengcschichU 5, 2 (Leipzig 1839), p. 736.30